Visible light-responsive chitosan-based active packaging delays kiwifruit quality deterioration by regulating membrane lipid metabolism

Abstract

Disorders of membrane lipid metabolism are responsible for the deterioration of postharvest fruit quality. In this study, a multi-omics approach was utilized to investigate how visible light-responsive chitosan composite active (CC) films regulate membrane lipid metabolism to delay kiwifruit quality deterioration. Compared with traditional polyethylene (PE) packaging, the visible light-responsive CC packaging effectively preserved sensory quality, texture, and nutritional characteristics, and reduced malondialdehyde accumulation (by 29 %) and relative electrolyte leakage rate (by 21 %), and significantly decreased the activity of membrane lipid-degrading enzymes (LOX, PLD, PLC, and PLA₂ enzyme activity). Metabolomics and transcriptomics highlighted the critical role of phospholipid metabolism in influencing quality changes. CC film reduced phosphatidic acid accumulation, attenuated phospholipid hydrolysis, and enhanced cell membrane integrity. Furthermore, it regulated key genes involved in membrane lipid metabolism, with lower expression of AcLOX, AcPLD, AcPLC, AcSDP, and AcDGK but higher expression of AcGPAT compared to the PE group. Thus, this study contributes to the understanding of the effects of membrane lipid metabolism on kiwifruit quality deterioration and also reveals the great potential of CC film to maintain kiwifruit postharvest quality.